Pat Gillett had a very busy week at Jonchery #7 this September, with over 100+ fish on the bank! Here’s his story…
I have just got back from an action packed week of carp fishing at the Angling Lines venue Jonchery 7. I was accompanied on this trip by my brother David and ex-work mate Garry Clarke.
Arriving at the venue at around 2pm (as per the fishery rules) we had a chat with Mark Slade the bailiff and made our way to the lake. Jonchery 7 is situated at the far end of the complex and is separated from the main lake by 2 small stock ponds. This gives you total seclusion and privacy for your week.
We had a quick walk around the lake in the warmth of the afternoon sun (around 25 Deg. C), and spotted signs of carp straight away. As with a lot of French lakes (of this type), it soon became obvious that the vast majority of the fish were concentrated tight to the margins of the west bank. This was a real sun trap and also offered plenty of tree cover for the carp to hide under.
I got the marker rod out and had a quick ‘plumb’ around, this proved that the venue information on the Angling Lines website was correct and I could only find between 2 to 3 ½ feet of water with a relatively ‘soft bottom’. Dinner was delivered by Mark and we finally got the rods fishing at around 7pm. I had set up on the big ‘double peg’ at the dam end of the lake with David. Gary was set up in the very last swim, right at the far end of the lake, with the high banks of the vast Lac du Temple directly behind him.
View looking down the lake from the dam
With the warm temperature and predicted weather for the rest of the week, I decided to fish all our rods to the far side margins and to the margins of the dam, no more that 10 feet from the bank with any of them. As per usual, I baited lightly for the first evening and within 30 minutes, we were into our first carp of the week. We fished till midnight on that first evening and ended up with 7 carp between the two of us. This was totally different to the sort of fishing I am used to in France, where it usually takes till around Tuesday before you have ‘built’ the swim up enough for it to start producing on a regular basis! It was also unexpected after seeing the previous couple of catch returns where the lake as a whole, had produced 30 odd fish for the week.
On that first night, I was struck by how quiet the place was. There was no unnatural light or road noise. The only thing you could hear was bird song and later on, the sounds from deer, wild boar and foxes in the surrounding forests. Just the sort of environment I like for my fishing.
View looking up the lake from the ‘bottom end’ where Garry was set up
We made a nice relaxed start to the Sunday morning with all the rods back into position by around 9am. The odd fish put in an appearance before a feeding spell started at around 1.30pm and this then lead to an hectic afternoon, which saw three fish on the bank at the same time at one point. This formed the pattern for the the fishing for the week. We got the rods fishing for around 8am on most mornings and the odd carp would show up, before a definite feeding spell would start at around 1pm and the action would be fast and furious until about 6pm. Then it would be just the odd fish until ‘bed time’ at around 11pm.
The biggest Koi of the week
We stuck to the same six spots, between David and I all week, and they all produced fish, a couple of the spots on the dam, being very productive, but all the rods had certain days when they produced numbers of carp.
The biggest Grass carp of the week
Between David and myself, we landed 90 carp, these being mainly commons, with a few Grass carp, ‘scaley mirrors’ and a Koi thrown in for good measure. Garry chipped in with 22 carp of his own, for a grand total of 112 fish for the week. We had commons to just over 34lbs, grass carp to 34lbs, mirrors to just over 30lbs and Koi to 26lbs+. There are much bigger carp in the lake, but we were just unfortunate, we didn’t latch into any of them, especially considering the number of fish landed.
Garry with his biggest fish of the week
Conclusions
As I mentioned earlier the lake is in a really tranquil setting with an abundance of wild life. During our stay, we saw or heard, grass snakes, deer, wild boar, buzzards, coypu, muskrats, herons, kingfishers and any amount of other birdlife.
From a fishing point of view, we just fished for one bite at a time, but because of the amount of fish landed, the two of us still got through around 18Kg of Quest Baits Rahja Spice boilies, 2 sacks of the lake pellets (Sarb) and around a sack of pigeon conditioner. Just topping up the exact same spot after each run. I would say find your spots and stick to them, without continuously chopping and changing if you have a few hours, where there is no action. Rigs were made up of 15lb ESP stripteaze, with a snowman rig made up of a 15mm Rahja Spice bottom bait and tipped with either a 10mm pop-up, or a pimple pop of the same blend. These were attached to the rig ‘KD’ style. Stick to a rig and bait, that you are confident in and as far as anything can be guaranteed in fishing, you should catch plenty of carp.
You can expect plenty of this type of action
The fish were all in excellent condition and the high 20 to low 30 common’s are some of the hardest fighting fish you will come across anywhere. There is an outside chance of a 50lb fish, with some lovely looking scaley mirrors and commons to go at.
The biggest common of the week
The facilities are very good and more than adequate for serving the anglers from both Jonchery 7 and the main lake. It is definitely worth taking a bike with you though, as it is around a ten minute walk to get to them from the far end of the complex.
So if you are after a lake for two or three friends to fish in perfect isolation, with the chance of plenty of action throughout the week, then this one certainly worth a look.
Cheers,
Pat Gillett
Find more information on Jonchery #7 here – Carp Fishing in France
One of the lovely ‘scaley mirrors’
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